PRIESTS MURDERED BY JAPANESE

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 20, 19 October 1942, Page 6

PRIESTS MURDERED BY JAPANESE

Massacre In East Indies (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, October 16. The murder by the Japanese of the Dutch Roman Catholic bishop of the Kei Islands, in the East Indies, and seven priests is reported by the Netherlands Indies Government information service. The murders were committed at Langgoer on July 13, and have been reported by eye-witnesses. The statement says that Bishop Aerts and seven members of his missionary staff were herded together on the jetty at Langgoer and massacred. Other missionaries and sisters were taken away by soldiers’ and their fate is unknown. •‘Bishop Aerts, who was about 70, had spent most of his life on these and in surrounding islands,” says the statement. “Medical and educationary assistance, besides his activities as a missionary made him one of the most beloved figures of the whole area and the entire population, Brotestant, Catholic and Mahommedau alike, revered him. It is not certain what caused this bestial behaviour by the Japanese, but eye-witnesses indicate that possibly it was caused by the fact that the bishop had issued orders to burn the mission launch before the Japanese could take it. The entire population of the Kei, Aru and TenImber Islands has been enraged by this bloody massacre.”